How realistic are multi-decadal reconstructions of GRACE-like total water storage anomalies?

Reconstructions allow us to extend the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) data record into the past and bridge the one-year gap between GRACE and its successor, GRACE-FO (Follow on). Reconstructed total water storage anomalies (TWSA) are obtained by identifying relations between GRACE-derived TWSA and climate variables via statistical and machine learning techniques. However, a comparative analysis of the characteristics and realism of reconstructions is missing. In this contribution, we close this gap by comparing three global reconstructions by Humphrey and Gudmundsson (2019), Li et al. (2021) and Chandanpurkar et al. (2022) mutually and against output from the Water Global Analysis and Prognosis (WaterGAP) hydrological model from 1979 onwards, against large-scale mass-change derived from geodetic satellite laser ranging (SLR) from 1992 onwards, and finally against differing GRACE and GRACE-FO solutions from 2002 onwards. The reconstructions vary regarding design and trained GRACE solution. Reconstructions recover the TWSA signal for humid climate regions but disagree for arid climate regions, which is evident on the inter-annual timescales. At seasonal and sub-seasonal timescales, the reconstructions agree surprisingly well in many regions. Our comparison against independent SLR data reveals that reconstructions (only) partially succeed in representing anomalous TWSA for areas that are influenced by significant climate modes such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). • Analysis of trend, acceleration, yearly, sub-seasonal and inter-annual TWSA signal. • External validation of the reconstructions via satellite laser ranging and GRACE. • Reconstructions agree for humid climate regions but disagree for arid ones. • Reconstructions show an acceleration in water storage change after the new millennium.